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    Last Days in Babylon: The Story of the Jews of Baghdad
    Unavailable
    Last Days in Babylon: The Story of the Jews of Baghdad
    Unavailable
    Last Days in Babylon: The Story of the Jews of Baghdad
    Ebook401 pages6 hours

    Last Days in Babylon: The Story of the Jews of Baghdad

    By Marina Benjamin

    4.5/5

    ()

    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    About this ebook

    The fascinating story of the Iraqi Jews told through the life of the author's grandmother

    'Last Days in Babylon is a marvel ... An amalgam of political commentary, history and personal memoir, it offers a poignant testimony to an obliterated people' Sunday Times

    'This is a history unknown even to most Jews. Benjamin narrates it fluently and passionately' Independent

    Marina Benjamin grew up in London, feeling estranged from her family's Middle Eastern ways, refusing to speak Arabic or eat their food. But when Benjamin had her own child a few years ago, she realised that she was losing her link to the past, inspiring a journey to Baghdad and into her family's history.

    Her discoveries will haunt anyone who seeks to understand a country whose ongoing struggles continue to command the world's attention. By turns moving and funny, Last Days in Babylon is an adventure story, a riveting history and a timely reminder that behind today's headlines are real people whose lives are caught in the crossfire of misunderstanding, prejudice and ambition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateDec 19, 2013
    ISBN9781408854129
    Unavailable
    Last Days in Babylon: The Story of the Jews of Baghdad
    Author

    Marina Benjamin

    Marina Benjamin’s most recent books are Insomnia, The Middlepause, Rocket Dreams, shortlisted for the Eugene Emme Award, and Last Days in Babylon, longlisted for the Wingate Prize. Her writing has appeared in Granta, The Guardian, The New York Times, The Paris Review, and the digital magazines Literary Hub and Aeon, where she is a senior editor. She lives in London.

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    Reviews for Last Days in Babylon

    4.5/5

    7 ratings1 review

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    • 4/5
      I quite enjoyed this book and found it to be quite relevant to current-day events, inasmuch as I feel a good understanding of a nation's history is useful in understanding its present situation. (Admittedly, I have both an interest in history generally and in the Middle East specifically, including Iraqi Jewry, so it may be easier for me to enjoy a book like this, than for a reader who does not share those interests.) For me one of the draws of this book was its inclusion of general Iraqi history as well as the author's specific family history -- I was able to learn more about the nation while also learning about a particular family. Also interesting was her return to modern-day Iraq to visit the tiny and declining Jewish community there -- a poignant state of affairs given how large and bustling that ancient community once was. Readers interested in Arab Jewish history, the Jewish Diaspora, and the history of Iraq and/or the Middle East, would probably enjoy this book and the wealth of information it contains.